Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to methods and apparatus for processing conference calls.
Description of the Related Art
Participants of a conference call typically connect to a conference via a conference bridge. More particularly, each participant is typically connected to a different port of the conference bridge. In order to ensure that there are sufficient resources for the participants of a conference, the conference bridge typically reserves a specific number of ports for the expected number of participants. However, it is difficult to predict the number of ports that will be needed for a given conference. In addition, since a conference bridge may simultaneously support multiple conferences that may begin and end at different times, it is difficult to divide the resources of the conference bridge among the conferences. Consequently, conferences are often either under or over subscribed, resulting in either a waste of conference resources or an inability of users to join a conference due to insufficient resources.